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"The hero's mortal body dissolved on his upward path, as a leaden pellet / shot from a broad sling melts away in the midst of the sky" (Ovid, Metamorphoses, 14.824-6).

Metamorphoses

Author: 

Ovid

43 BCE – 17 CE
Dates are approximate

Publius Ovidius Naso ('Ovid') was born in Sulmo, north of Rome, in 43 BCE Although educated to take part in political and public life, as an aesthete from the very start, he tells us in his first published collection of poetry that he has no intention of 'learning wordy laws by heart', or 'prostituting' his voice to the 'ungrateful Forum' (Amores 1.15.6).

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